Fashion lovers step back in time at Yorkshire’s own Festival of Vintage

Lindsay Pantry

YORK RACECOURSE was taken back to the 1940s and 1950s as women in colourful tea dresses and gents in demobbed suits flocked to the fifth annual Festival of Vintage.

Around 4,000 people attended the festival over the weekend, which included fashion shows from Halifax vintage brand House of Foxy and a display of clothes from the 1930s to 1960s from the Marks and Spencer archive in Leeds.

Caroline Smith pictured at the Festival.''Picture by Simon Hulme

But it wasn’t just about fashion. The festival’s director, Keeley Harris, of Leeds-based Discover Vintage is author of Style Me Vintage: Home and created an atomic-styled 1950s living room. Other interiors were created by the County Durham museum Beamish, and 60 classic cars were on display.

Miss Harris said: “The popularity of the festival seems to be growing each year, and we’ve had people attending from as far as Suffolk, Wales and Bristol. It’s become a real hub for vintage enthusiasts from across the country. It’s amazing to see everyone dressed up and making the day of it.”